Now Thank We All Our God

Because Thanksgiving is this week, we closed our worship service yesterday with the hymn, Now Thank We All Our God. This is one of my favorite hymns in the hymnal. The first two stanzas were written to be sung as a blessing before mealtime. The third stanza is a Trinitarian doxology. It is an exquisite expression of both thanksgiving and the source to which our thanks is directed. It is even more inspiring when you consider the circumstances in which it was composed.

Martin Rinkart, the author of the text, was a Lutheran pastor who served in his hometown of Eilenburg, Saxony (northern Germany), from his ordination in 1617 until his death in 1649. Those 32 years of ministry included the entirety of the Thirty Years' War, which began in 1618 and ended in 1648.

The Thirty Years' War was primarily a German civil war for the first 16 years, with Emperor Ferdinand II trying to assert Hapsburg authority over the Holy Roman Empire. For reasons too complicated to go into in this space, in 1635 most of the rest of Western Europe got involved, with Sweden and France on one side and Spain and Austria on the other. Estimates are that the total number of deaths during the war, both civilian and military, range between 5 to 8 million, the vast majority from disease or starvation. In some areas of Germany, 60% of the population died.

Eilenberg, the city in which Rinkart ministered, was a walled city. During the war, thousands of people who had lost everything fled there for protection. It became an overcrowded city of sick and hungry people. As if that wasn't enough, in 1637 a disease, most likely the bubonic plague, devastated the city. As many as 8,000 people died. The two other ministers in the city died. Martin Rinkart was left there, alone, to serve the entire city. That one year he performed 4,480 funerals, sometimes 50 in one day. This included the funeral of his wife.

This is the context in which Martin Rinkart spent his entire ministry - all of his preaching, teaching, caring for people, all the hymns and dramas he wrote, were written with this going on around him. And somewhere around 1636-1637, he wrote these words:

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices

Who wondrous things hath done, in whom this world rejoices

Who, from our mothers' arms, hath blessed us on our way

With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today

O may this bounteous God, through all our life be near us

With every joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us

And keep us in his grace, and guide us when perplexed

And free us from all ills, in this world and the next

All praise and thanks to God, who reigns in highest heaven

To Father and to Son and Spirit now be given

The one eternal God, whom earth and heaven adore

The God who was, and is, and shall be evermore

Rinkart knew that no matter what difficulties we face here on earth, nothing changes the fact that God is good, that God blesses us with love, that God still reigns in heaven, and that, in the end, God's will will be done.

This has been a difficult year for us. I know this week will be difficult for many of us. We aren't able to see our families, to keep and observe long-standing traditions, to be with those we love. We may not see much to be thankful for.

In the midst of this, friends, I pray that we can be the kind of Christians who keep faith, who love and care for others, and who can continue to sing our praise and thanks to God, even under the most difficult circumstances, as Martin Rinkart did. 

Know that I am thankful for each and every one of you. 

Grace and peace...

PT

A Message from Pastor Tim

Greetings friends,

As you are no doubt aware, cases of Covid-19 are rising precipitously in our community. The last three days have seen 950 new Covid cases, with each day setting a single day record. There are currently a record 2,263 active Covid cases in Knox County and it was reported yesterday that 7 Knox County residents died due to Covid in the previous 24 hours, a single-day record. Thirty-three deaths have been recorded thus far in the month of November. We do not have this virus under control.

Experts from Johns Hopkins have advised groups larger than 10 people to refrain from meeting together indoors. The University of Tennessee Medical Center released a statement urging the public to follow the five core actions more aggressively. The director of emergency preparedness for the Knox County Health Department asked Knox County residents to change their behaviors in a press conference yesterday, saying, “This is up to you as a community to decide what this looks like. We need you to invest in it…It’s truly up to the community to decide whether behavior is going to be changed and actions are changed to really make an impact over the next few weeks.”

The Session of 2^nd Presbyterian Church discussed this situation at its regular stated meeting last night. The Session cares deeply about the safety, health, and well-being of everyone who calls 2^nd Presbyterian Church home. We also want to be responsible members of the community and do our part in fulfilling our civic responsibility to not contribute to the further spread of the virus in any way. For this reason, the Session has decided to heed the request of the experts and our civic leaders and change our behavior.

Effective immediately, all in-person worship services are suspended at least through the end of January. The Session will take up this matter again at its next regular stated meeting on January 19^th and make any adjustments or further recommendations at that time. Additionally, the Session has also decided to close the church building for the same period of time. The staff will continue to work from both home and the office, the church phone and emails will be answered during normal office hours, and the regular business of the church will continue uninterrupted. However, other than the preschool, the building will be closed to both groups and individuals until the end of January.

This does not mean that the ministry of the church will come to a stop. We will still be engaged in the ministry and mission to which we have been called by Jesus Christ; we will just not be doing it from the building. Committees will continue to meet electronically and we will continue to serve our community in various ways. Worship will continue, returning to our virtual, streaming-only format. Meals for the homebound will still be prepared and delivered. We will still collect stuffed animals for Judge Irwin’s court and still have a hat/glove/mitten tree for Westview’s clothes closet. The outside door to the vestibule will be unlocked during the week so that you may place collection items in there. You will also be able to pick up hard copies of the newsletter and Advent Devotional in the vestibule, if you prefer not to use the online versions.

I know this is going to be a difficult time for all of us, especially as the holidays approach. Please, I beg you, use caution in the next few weeks. Avoid risky behavior. Avoid gathering indoors with others. If you feel the least bit sick (or even just a little weird), stay home. Please wear your masks, wash your hands, and don’t go anywhere unless you absolutely have a need. Show your love for your neighbor by doing your part to decrease the community spread. I know it’s hard. I know it’s challenging. But it’s only for a little while longer.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. If there is anything you need during this time, please do not hesitate to reach out to Pastor Tim (276.525.5202) or Jan Barber (865.765.0437). Don’t call Pastor Sarah, though, as she is on maternity leave for the next 8 weeks! And remember the words of Psalm 62:

God is my rock and my salvation – my stronghold!

I will not be shaken.

God is my strong rock. My refuge is in God.

Trust in him at all times, all you people!

Pour out your hearts before him!

God is our refuge!

Grace and peace…

 

Pastors Tim and Sarah

Uncertain Times?

I keep reading and hearing this phrase over and over again on television, in the news, in person, and on the radio. It appears in commercials, on talk shows, on social media, and even in sermons. The phrase is: "In these uncertain times..."

We seem to have this need to define this period, to give a name to what we are feeling and seeing, what we are living through, but we are - forgive me - uncertain what to call it. I have heard many attempts. The global pandemic. The age of coronavirus. Covid times. Quarantine period. This time of social distancing. But the one that gets used most often, by a large margin, is uncertain times.

Uncertain times. It certainly seems to capture the essence of the moment. This week, even more so. We are literally uncertain about who has won the Presidential election. It is uncertain and unclear who will be the next leader of our country. We are uncertain when all the votes will be counted, how many legal challenges there will be, when the vote count will be finalized. Last night there were protests by both sides. We are uncertain if they are going to remain peaceful, if there is going to be unrest, rioting, or violence.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more we are uncertain about - a vaccine, the economy, if masks actually work, if we get Covid whether it will be a case of the sniffles or put us in the hospital, when or if things will return to normal, and on and on and on. Which is kind of...reassuring. Hear me out.

Right now we are feeling the intensity of the uncertainty in our country because our sense of security, our sense of normalcy has been upended. However, the reality is that we have always lived in uncertain times. Nothing is ever certain, except maybe, as Benjamin Franklin opined, death and taxes. 

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

            - Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, 1789

In normal uncertain times, we delude ourselves into thinking everything is going along as it should be. We buy into the lie that things are secure, that things are certain, that tomorrow we will wake up happy and healthy, that all the people we love will be there with us, that our investments will go up, that interests rates will stay low, that the price of gasoline will remain under $2.00 per gallon, and that the Vols will compete for an SEC title. But none of those things are ever certain. (Especially that last one.)

So when a crisis comes - like a 9/11 or stock market crash or economic recession or contagious virus or an election that doesn't produce a clear winner immediately or a defeat by the Kentucky Wildcats in Neyland Stadium - everybody panics. The reason we panic isn't because unexpected things are happening, because unexpected things happen all the time, every day. The reason everybody panics is that the lie has been exposed; the myth of certainty has been debunked. All of a sudden we are face to face with our vulnerability, with the uncertainty.

Now the reality is that we are always vulnerable and things are always uncertain. However, we usually buy into the illusion that we are safe and secure, that things are predictable, because we live in a very affluent society where many of us are privileged and are able to surround ourselves with comforts that insulate us from the difficulties of day-to-day living, as well as those who live on the edge of uncertainty and insecurity every single day of their lives.

James reminds us of reality when he says:

Come, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there doing business and making money. You do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while, and then vanishes."                                                                                               - James 4:13-14

Talk about a reality check! James says we can make all the plans we want, think we know how it's all going to go, and then die on the way out the door. James goes on to say that this is our lot in life - uncertainty, insecurity. So because of this, he says, we must build our lives on something stronger, more secure, more certain.

Jesus talked about the same thing when he told his stories. He told one about one man who built his house on the sand and another who built his house on the rock. When the storm came, the house built on the sand washed away. He told another about an affluent guy who kept building bigger and bigger barns so that he could store more and more stuff. Then the man died and all that stuff was just left there.

Jesus and James were reminding us that true security, true certainty is found in that which never changes. And what never changes is the character of God, the steadfast love of God, the grace and mercy of God. This is the only thing that is truly certain in the entire universe.

Every day the stock market changes. Every day there are new findings about the coronavirus. Every hour the vote count changes. Presidents come and go. Policies are written and rewritten. People delight and disappoint us. Viruses run rampant and then are contained. Housing values rise and fall. Businesses open and close. Financial conditions ebb and flow. We cannot build our life on that stuff.

I said this in a Wednesday night class a couple of years ago, but it bears repeating. If the Kingdom of God had a ticker the way the cable news networks do, here's what that ticker would say:

• God's character today - unchanged
• God's patience today - unchanged
• God's commitment to justice today - unchanged
• God's grace and mercy today - unchanged
• God's steadfast love today - unchanged

How long our lives will be disrupted due to the coronavirus may be uncertain. Whether or not we will be able to spend the holidays with our families may be uncertain. As of right now, the winner of the election is uncertain. These are uncertain times. They always are.

But nothing in heaven has changed. God's love for us is still certain. God is still sovereign. Jesus still sits on the throne at the right hand of the Father. He is our rock, our anchor, and our only hope. He is where security and certainty begins and ends.

And, by the way, that isn't up for a vote. We don't have to wait for ballots to be counted, for congress to act, for Nancy Pelosi or Mitch McConnell to put it on the docket, or for President Trump to sign an executive order. You can be certain of that!

So in the midst of these uncertain times, stop, take a breath, look around us at the beauty of fall in East Tennessee, and remember that our lives are built on sturdier stuff than what we see on the news. It doesn't mean that the election is unimportant or that we should not take precautions against the coronavirus or that we should not worry about justice for the victims of injustice. But it does mean we can put those things in perspective and remember that nothing, not life nor death nor rulers nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor anything else in all of creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Grace and peace...

PT

Reflections

 

I took this is picture the other morning and it has spoken to me on several levels. It is a visual reminder to me of the time I have to spend during Covid-19 in a reflective mood. There is so much to think about, so much to get angry about, so much to be grateful for and so many thoughts in between. The colors in the photo remind me of the many aspects of God and the infinite possibilities of my own thinking.
I ran across a quote recently that is currently inspiring me. It is a saying by a Hindu yogi – Yogaswami Vedanta:

“If you try to stop the mind, it will only become more active.  It is not necessary to stop it.  You must ask it where it is going.”

I am finding this a useful tool. When my mind gets active with negative things, I try to pause to “see” where I’m going with that thought. Am I living the life Jesus commanded me to? Am I keeping my blood pressure up by being angry? Am I solving the problem by being frustrated? Or can I find creative solutions to combat the negative feelings?

Whichever way I choose will have an effect on me and how I move through the world. My choice may also have a ripple effect on those around me. So the insight for me is to pause, reflect, pray, and look inside to try to discern where God wants me to go. With help from God, I can change the way I think, the way I act, the way I choose to be. All that is required is an open heart, an open mind, and the willingness to “see” where God wants me to go, how God wants me to be, and how I can reflect the love of God in the world around me.

May a time of reflection help us to find Peace, to focus on Gratitude, to find ways be Joyful, to develop Patience, and to share the Love of Jesus in all that we say and do. 

And may it be so……. 

- Jan Barber

Waiting

I've been thinking about waiting. It seems like everyone is waiting for things to go back to normal, waiting for the time when we can return to our regular lives and routines. We're waiting to return to worship and committee meetings and Wednesday night dinners. We're waiting to return to restaurants and movies and concerts. We're waiting for the time when the band can once again march into Neyland Stadium as we sing Rocky Top. We're waiting to visit grandparents and grandchildren and to take that trip that we had been planning that has now been put off. And we're waiting for a vaccine that will help bring all this about.

Waiting is nothing new - we wait all the time. We can wait for things, like a package to arrive, an Uber to pick us up, or the sun to rise. We can wait for people to come to our party, to keep their appointment, to be ready to leave for church. We can wait for events like the concert we have tickets for, the big game on Saturday, for Christmas morning, or for the election.

Sometimes the object of our waiting changes. My wife and I spent a very long time waiting for children, waiting to be parents, waiting to be a family. Now we can't wait for the children to leave and it be just the two of us! (Not really, but kinda really.)

We wait in groups, we wait in lines, we wait in cars, we wait in airports, we wait at restaurants. Wealthy, important people usually don't have to wait as often or as much as other people. They get to go to the front of the line at airport security, get to board and de-board the plane first. In restaurants their table is usually waiting for them, rather than the other way 'round.

Waiting implies that we are at the mercy of someone else. At the grocery store we are at the mercy of the people in line in front of us, especially if they decide to write a check. At banks we are at the mercy of the tellers or loan officers; at Starbucks to baristas; in medical offices and hospitals to doctors and nurses; at the DMV we are at the mercy of bureaucracy itself, but at least they give us a number so we know just how long the wait is going to be.

Sometimes waiting is a good thing. If we wait until we have enough cash to buy the flat screen TV we won't pay the interest that comes with putting it on the card. If we wait for the ball instead of swinging too early we are more likely to make it to base. We should wait until marriage to have sex, and we should wait to get married. (I'm hoping my kids read this blog!)

Sometimes we get to wait in a very special place known as a waiting room. It's a whole separate room where we can be with other people who are waiting just like us. While there, we can play the Waiting Game, which consists of trying to guess which one of us will get to end their wait next!

Sometimes waiting is hard, especially if you have nothing to do while waiting. I am convinced that this is the best thing about smart phones. Now we can read or watch TV or play silly little games crushing candies and finding words to pass the time while we wait.

Waiting is more difficult for some than it is for others. Children find it difficult to wait for summer vacation, for adults to finish their conversation, for Christmas morning, and for birthdays, the most important ones being 10, 13, 16, 18 and 21. After that we stop waiting for birthdays.

Paul Tillich said that waiting was a metaphor for faith because waiting is always linked to hope. Sometimes, however, we wait when there seems to be no hope. We wait for world peace. We wait for everyone to be kind. We wait for justice and equal opportunity for all. We wait for the day when our college loans or credit cards are paid off. We wait for our wives to get ready. (I'm hoping my wife doesn't read this blog!)

Some people are so good at waiting that they become professional waiters. The really good ones can make quite a bit of money. Some professions require more waiting than others. Artists have to wait for the paint to dry or the clay to be ready. Scientists must wait for the test results. Writers must wait for inspiration. Farmers probably wait the most. They have to wait for the seeds to sprout and the harvest to ripen. But they usually find something to do while waiting.

Preachers are like farmers. We sow seeds and wait. And wait. And wait. We prepare the soil, water the soil, nourish the soil, and wait for the seeds to sprout. We wait for signs of growth, for signs that fruit is being borne. Sometimes when the fruit is finally borne, however, we aren't there to see it. It can be frustrating, but we learn the art of the deep breath and the cleansing sigh and how to wait upon the Lord.

Waiting is hard work and humble work because waiting is the work of self-denial. It is the admission that we are not the center of the universe, that the world does not revolve around us. The one who waits is the one who has been put in his or her place.

Clearly, waiting is a skill that God urges us to develop:

• Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)
• The Lord is good to those who wait for him. (Lamentations 3:25; see also Psalm 37:9; Psalm 130 5-6; Psalm 37:7-9)
• Those who wait on the Lord will find their strength renewed in the Lord. (Isaiah 40:31)

We have even built periods into the liturgical year that focus on waiting. Advent and Lent are the periods before the two major Christian festivals when we are to look inward, confess our own selfishness, be patient, think of others, and ask ourselves what God wants us to learn as we wait for his coming (Christmas) or for his sacrifice (Easter).

So perhaps we should approach this time that we are in, this period of waiting, more like we do those times. Perhaps we should look at this season as a gift from God to discover something important and essential about what it means to be human. Perhaps we should be a little more patient, a little more introspective, a little less self-centered, a little more focused on others, and seek to discover what God wants us to learn. 

Perhaps we need to wait some more, even though we may be weary. Even though it may be difficult. Perhaps if we simply seek to pass through all of this in hasty expectation of a return to normal, we are missing the fundamental point of the whole ordeal. 

This doesn't mean there is no hope. Hope is what keeps us waiting. 

How do we do what we are called to do?

 It's been a while since I've written anything for the blog because, you know, Covid. So it's good to be back. I hope you have found these blog posts to be helpful. Sarah and I plan to continue them, just not quite as often as before. Like, instead of several times a week, we may only post once a week. We will continue doing them, however. Which brings me to what I want to write about today.

From everything I've read online and seen on the news, it appears that there may be a vaccine for the coronavirus by the end of this year or early next year. It also appears that it will require two doses over two months and that the population will be split into four groups who will receive the vaccine in four phases over many, many months. So it appears that for those who want it, broad distribution of a vaccine will not take place until the middle of next year. And it also appears there are many people who do not want to be vaccinated, either because they are against vaccines in general (which I don't understand) or because they don't want to take a vaccine that has been rushed to market without being rigorously and properly tested (which I totally understand). Finally, it appears that even after everyone who wants to be vaccinated has been, there will be some amount of time before the virus begins to dissipate enough that we can begin thinking of it more like the flu.

The upshot of all of this? The coronavirus is going to be with us for quite a while. For the foreseeable future we will still need to wear masks, sanitize and wash our hands regularly, maintain physical distance from others, take extra cleaning precautions, and be careful of gathering in large crowds.

So what does this mean for ministry? Well, obviously things are going to look different for a while. So I think we need to switch our mindset. It seems that in most congregations and for most people, everyone is just sort of waiting around for when things can "get back to normal." Our focus is on all the things we can't do: We can't have in-person worship, we can't have Wednesday night dinners, we can't have Bible study, we can't do FISH, we can't have youth group, etc.

Rather than thinking about what we can't do, I think it's time to start thinking about what we CAN do! How can we do the mission and ministry of the Church, the mission and ministry Christ calls us to, within the parameters of a global pandemic? I mean - it's going to be a while before things get back to normal. What about in the meanwhile? Ministry still needs to be done. People still need to be fed, loved, served, cared for, lifted up, nourished, nurtured, and feel the love of God in Christ Jesus. How do we do that within the framework of not touching, physically distancing, and not gathering indoors in large groups?

Just so you know - I don't have the answer. However, I believe YOU DO!!! I believe that God puts his answer in his people. This is the time for us to get creative - to find ways to minister to one another and serve others. This is the time for us to find new ways to show the love of Christ. This is the time for us to find new ways of being God's people, new ways of being the church in and for the world.

I challenge you to stop thinking about what we can't do and to start thinking about what we can do! How do we do what we are called to do right now? YOU have the answer! I look forward to seeing what it is!

The Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John

I participated in a virtual Bible study this week, put on by Massanetta Springs Camp & Conference Center. During this week each summer, they hold the Bible and Church Music Conference, which brings in preachers and church musicians from all over to worship and share their wisdom with participants. This year, they were obviously not able to hold the conference in person, and so invited one of their preachers, Karoline Lewis, to hold a virtual Bible study for anyone to attend. 

Her study was entitled, Knowing a Christian When You See One, and focused on the role of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John and what that role has to teach us about what it means to be a Christian today. 

In John 14:15-31, Jesus promises the disciples “another Advocate,” that will abide with them once he has ascended to the Father. In her study, Lewis pointed out that there are 5 key attributes that this “advocate” portrays. Those attributes are: accompaniment, attentiveness, authenticity, abundance, and advocacy. Each of these, she says, are also attributes that should be lived out in the Christian life. They are also, she says, attributes that we see embodied by the women in John’s gospel.

Accompaniment in John 2:1-12 (The mother of Jesus)

Attentiveness in John 4:1-42 (The Woman at the Well)

Authenticity in John 11:1-45 (Mary and Martha, sisters of Lazarus)

Abundance in John 12:1-12 (Mary)

Advocacy in John 20:11-18 (Mary Magdalene)

Now, I won’t pretend that I can boil everything discussed in a 2-hour Bible study down into a blog post, but I invite you to consider these attributes and the ways that you see them play out (or not) in the Christian life, as I will continue to do over the next few days and beyond. 

How do you see these things show up in your own life of faith, and how do you see them show up in the life of the Church as a whole? 

[If you have two hours and are interested in watching the whole Bible study, you can find Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.]